Lana's Return
by AAmama
Summary: Lana Lang's return disrupts the blissful lives of newlyweds Lois and Clark
1. The Predicament

"Lana's Return"

 **I had so much fun writing my first Smallville fanfic, "Smallville: The Finale" that I wanted to write another one. PLEASE read and review. Oh, and I'm 110% CLOIS!**

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

…..

 **CHAPTER 1 - THE PREDICAMENT**

Lois felt herself waking up. She couldn't remember when or where she fell asleep, but she knew one thing: she had a splitting headache. She went to raise her hand to her head, but something was restricting her arm from moving freely. She opened her eyes slowly. Panic immediately sent her heart racing when she looked at the scene before her. She was lying in a bed inside of a free-standing jail cell. The jail cell which contained her seemed to be inside of a very large warehouse. The bars of the jail cell were all glowing an eerie green color. Her hands were handcuffed to the headboard of the bed on which she lay. And the handcuffs were glowing an eerie green color. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself as she sat up a little straighter and fear rose inside of her. "It's Kryptonite."

 **48 HOURS EARLIER**

Lois and Clark hustled into the Daily Planet on a regular Monday morning. They had just celebrated 6 months together as husband and wife, and were loving every minute of it. They made no secret to anyone about their relationship and marriage. Though Clark "geeked it up" well at work, it was easy for any woman to see what Lois saw in him - his charm, his heart, his genuine concern for others around him. Clark and Lois worked so well together - not just in reporting, but she helped cover for him at work when he needed to duck out quickly and perform a Superman duty, and always provided him with a soft place to fall when he had a hard day out as Superman and just needed some loving arms and reassurance that what he did really mattered; Clark helped soften Lois from her Mad Dog Lane exterior to Lois Lane Kent - a woman who could allow herself to be very vulnerable and warm-hearted.

"Lane, Kent, glad I caught you," Perry said as they entered the bull pen.

"What's up, Perry?" Lois asked.

"The Planet has hired a new photographer," Perry said. "His name is Zac Easton, and he's highly skilled and highly sought after. The only reason we were able to snatch him up on such short notice is because his last place of employment shut down unexpectedly, so their loss is our gain. He'll be shadowing you two quite a bit as you cover the clean-up from yesterday's tornadoes." As if on cue, a man with piercing blue eyes and dirty blonde hair who stood about Clark's height and build walked up. Lois noticed many of her female colleagues doing a double-take on him.

"Zac, right on time," Perry said. "I'd like for you to meet one of our finest junior reporting teams. This is Lois Lane and Clark Kent."

"Hi, um, nice - nice to meet you, Zac," Clark said pushing his glasses up on his nose and then shaking the man's hand.

"Welcome to the Planet," Lois said warmly while extending her hand out to him as well.

"Thank you," Zac said. "It's nice to meet you both."

"Perry, maybe between the tornado coverage we're providing, and now getting some of Zac's pictures to go along with it, Clark and I will no longer be introduced as your _junior_ reporting team, but senior reporting team?" Lois suggested.

"Give me a one-of-a-kind, GREAT story with great shots, and that sounds like something we can discuss," Perry said as he left the trio.

"So, uh, Zac, Lois, you ready to head out?" Clark asked.

"You heard Perry," Lois said. "A great story with some great photos, and that private office upstairs is ours, Smallville."

"Smallville?" Zac asked, his eyebrows raised.

"It's kind of a nickname that Lois gave me several years ago," Clark said sheepishly. "I grew up in Smallville. On a farm. She used to tease me that I was nothing but a farm boy from Smallville."

"Yeah," Lois said with a grin. "But then I got to know him. And I got to know the people of Smallville. And it all grew on me. So what started out as a semi-insult has turned into a term of endearment."

"Term of endearment?" Zac asked. "You two are an item?"

"Item might be too loose a term," Clark said, holding up his left hand to show his wedding ring. "She's my wife."

"And don't you forget it," Lois said, giving a small wink and a flirty grin to her husband before turning her attention to her desk to retrieve her tape recorder, notepad, and a pen. "Enough chit chat. Let's get this show on the road."

As they were heading outside to hail a cab, Clark heard someone calling his name. "Clark! Lois!" He turned his head in the direction of the voice.

"Lana?" he asked in utter disbelief.

"Lana," Lois said in a guarded tone.


	2. Priorities

**CHAPTER 2 - PRIORITIES**

"Hey, guys!" Lana squealed pulling them both in for a hug. "I'm sorry, I wasn't really planning on dropping in on you, but I saw you two leaving the Planet, and I wanted to just say hi."

"Um, why don't I hail us a taxi, and you three get reacquainted," Zac said, feeling that he clearly wasn't involved here.

"Lana, um, how - ?" Clark stuttered.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lois asked, straightforwardly.

"Lo-is," Clark slightly reprimanded. Clark could see Lois standing taller with her arms crossed - a surefire sign that she was putting up her defenses. He put his arm around her waist, and let his hand lovingly squeeze her hip. He felt the tension in her body ease up a bit at his loving touch.

"I have a lot I need to tell you," Lana said, lowering her voice, and quickly dropping the nice-ities to get straight to the point. "Both of you. Can we have dinner at your place tonight? Everything I need to say needs to be done with as much privacy as possible."

"Sure," Clark agreed quickly. Lois looked at Clark with disbelief.

 _Is he not even going to ask me if I'm OK with this?_ She thought to herself. _No, Lane, get out of your head. Lana said she needs to talk to both of us privately. Oooh, maybe it's a juicy story... about how she wants Clark back. No, Lois, quit being like this!_ Lois let out an exasperated sigh at her own insecurities and stepped away from where Clark and Lana were talking.

"How about our apartment at 7:00?" Clark said to Lana. He scribbled down their address on a sheet of paper from the notepad he was holding, and ripped the page out to hand to Lana. "Here's our address."

"Great," Lana said. "I'll see you guys later." She quickly headed off.

Clark moved closer to Lois, and reached a hand out to the small of her back. "Lois, is everything -" he started.

"Hey guys!" Zac's voice interrupted. "Got the cab!"

"Great!" Lois exclaimed, pulling out of Clark's embrace with her best poker face/happy face on. "Let's go get that Pulitzer."

The tornado devastation site was about 4 miles away from the Planet. It was only a 15 minute car ride, but the tension in the cab was thick. Zac rode up front while Lois and Clark took the back seat.

"Lois," Clark whispered again, as she distractedly looked out the window. She was nervously twiddling her thumbs. He gently placed his hand on top of hers and she finally looked at him.

"Not now," she whispered back, pulling her hand out of his touch. "It's just not the right time."

Once at the devastation site, Zac started taking pictures of the fallen houses and ruins. Superman had been there for several hours the night before, helping with the rescue and recovery efforts. He had helped locate 17 people trapped in the rubble. Fortunately, none of them had non-critical injuries - broken arms, and legs, lots of bruises, but nothing too terrible.

The trio worked separately at the devastation site. Clark was talking to survivors who were torn over where to go and what to do next; Lois was talking to some of the first responders who were still helping clean up messes, and Zac was shooting photos. After being at the site for a couple of hours, the team was about ready to pack up. Lois saw Clark standing amidst some rubble, looking around at the devastation that surrounded them, and she walked over to him.

"Look, Clark," she started out, with hesitation in her voice. "I know that you've noticed I put up a wall since we ran into Lana. It's not something that I'm proud of. Maybe when we get back to the office, we can write up our notes quickly, and head home a little early, so that we can talk," Lois suggested.

Before Clark had time to respond, a dog started frantically barking about 20 yards away from where they stood. "Hang on Lois, there might be another victim trapped down below," Clark said with a desperate plea in his eyes as he tugged on his tie, signifying to Lois that he was about to disappear and return as his alter ego.

"Yeah. Of course," Lois stammered. "Go check." Clark was able to duck behind an ambulance that was parked just a few feet away from them, and reappear as Superman.

"Superman?" one of the firemen asked when he saw Superman appear on scene out of nowhere.

"I was flying overhead when my hearing picked up this dog's frantic barking," Superman said, kneeling next to the dog and giving him a pat on the head. "I wanted to come check and make sure that nobody is buried under here and we missed it last night."

"Of course," the fireman said. "Please help us. We need all the help we can get. Most of my guys have been here all night, and are bone tired, but want to stay and help."

Superman cued in his super hearing, and could hear some labored breathing coming from down in the rubble. "There's someone trapped!" He immediately started moving the wooden boards and bricks that had fallen, being as careful as possible so as not to make the house collapse any further.

Lois started to make her way over to where Superman and the firemen were digging. "Zac!" she called out. He was talking to some policemen about 20 feet away from her. "Come get some shots of this!" He made his way over to her, and the two continued making their way over piles of wood and debris to where Superman and the firemen worked. "The Daily Planet will want to be the first covering Superman making an unexpected rescue." As the pair continued walking, and dodging debris, Lois' heel slipped in some mud which caused her to lose her footing and she fell backwards. Her hand hit a wooden plank in the fall which released 2 bricks to come dropping down on her right hand. "Ohhhh!" she screamed out in pain. Lois' eyes immediately found Superman's, and she saw him start walking her direction.

"Superman! I found her! It's a little girl!" Lois heard one of the firemen call out.

"Clark," Lois whispered so softly that she knew only Clark could hear her. "Help that little girl." Zac quickly was at Lois' side.

"Lois!" he said immediately removing the bricks from her hand. "Are you alright?" He looked at her hand. "It's already bruising. You need to get that checked out. It could be broken."

"No, I'm sure it's -" Lois tried moving her fingers and wrist, and grabbed onto Zac as she felt light-headed from the pain.

"No, you need medical attention," Zac said putting his arm around her waist and helping her over to an ambulance.

"Thanks, Zac," Lois said. She turned her attention to Superman's rescue. "The paramedics will take care of me now. Please go get us some amazing photos."

"If you're sure," Zac said. "Where did your husband go? He should be here doting on you."

"Clark is probably getting the story," Lois said in an annoyed tone. "He knows I'm a big girl. Now go." Zac ran over to Superman and started snapping pictures as the 3-year-old girl was pulled out of the rubble. She was barely conscious.

"Superman, she needs to get to the hospital now!" Lois heard a fireman yell. "Can you take her?"

Superman's eyes met Lois', and she gave him a small nod.

"Of course," Superman said as he gently cradled the little girl in his arms and flew away from the scene.

Lois was taken by ambulance to Metropolis General where she received an X-ray, and was thankful to find no bones had been broken. It was just a moderate contusion to her hand, which the hospital wrapped in an Ace bandage, and told her that she would need to limit her use of it as much as possible for the next couple of weeks to let it fully heal. By the time Lois had received the X-ray, been discharged from the hospital, filled out the Worker's Comp paperwork, and picked up her prescription for pain meds, it was 6:30. Clark had tried calling her to find out where she was, but as soon as he told her that he was on his way to pick her up, another Superman emergency pulled him away. They had decided to meet up at their apartment and order a pizza for dinner. Lois walked into their apartment at 6:45 completely exhausted from the day's events. As soon as she was in the door, she was embraced by Clark. He held her in a gentle hug and said nothing for a few seconds.

He pulled away, keeping his arms locked around her waist, and looked straight into her eyes. "I am so sorry that you got hurt. I heard you yell out in pain, and I wanted to run and tend to you right then, but -"

"It's OK," she interrupted, in a somber tone. "Superman duties always take precedence."

Clark frowned at that. "Lois. _You_ will always take precedence. Maybe I haven't handled today like I should have, but I hope you know that you are always going to be the most important person in my life." He glanced down at her bandaged hand. "Is your hand broken?"

"No, just a moderate contusion," she answered. "The doctors said I just need to limit my usage of it for the next couple of weeks, and they gave me some good painkillers to ease the pain."

Clark looked at her with a pained expression, and kissed her forehead. "I'm so sorry that you got injured today."

"Clark, don't apologize for my hand," she said truthfully. "My hand will heal in a few weeks. A 3-year-old little girl is alive because of you."

"Thank you," Clark said. "Now, can we talk? I think we need to clear the air a bit." The doorbell rang.

"Our dinner guest is here," Lois said pulling away from Clark.


	3. Lana

About half an hour later, the three were sitting in the living room - Lois and Clark at opposite ends of the couch, and Lana in an armchair with a couple of pizza boxes on the coffee table that was in the middle of them.

"OK, so let's talk," Lois said, frankly. "My first question is why are you here? And how is this even possible? Clark told me when you left it's because you had absorbed Kryptonite into your skin and he literally couldn't come within 10 feet of you without being violently ill."

"Please," Lana said. "Let me start from the beginning."

"Do you still have abilities?" Lois asked.

"Lois, let's let her talk," Clark said. Lois just looked at him with a gaping mouth.

"Lois, I promise I'll answer all your questions," Lana said. She took a deep breath. "So, yes, I still have all of my abilities, and I still have the ability to absorb Kryptonite. But now I also have the ability to expel the Kryptonite from me as well."

"How is that possible?" Clark asked. "I thought that you couldn't find a scientist who could reverse the process."

"I couldn't," Lana explained. "And then one day, one of the scientists who had created the power suit had a thought. If doctors use radiation therapy, which is just intense beams of energy to kill cancer cells, what if we could use a stronger radiation therapy to kill Kryptonite cells? I know that Clark gets his power from the yellow sun, so we deduced that it was highly possible that the yellow sun would kill the Kryptonite that had absorbed into my body. Since I am still human, the scientists had to create a sun suit, much like the space suits that astronauts wear, that would allow me to get within the sun's atmosphere without suffocating, or burning me to a crisp, and would just burn the Kryptonite cells inside of me. After months of trial and error, the team finally created a sun suit that they thought would work, so last month, I made my journey to the sun, and I'm happy to report that it worked like we had anticipated."

"That's great, Lana," Clark said, cheerfully.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here," Lois said, bluntly. Clark glared at her slightly. "What? It doesn't," she said.

"I have strong suspicions about one of the other scientists," Lana said. "I never worked with him directly, nor did I ever meet him face-to-face, but one of my main scientists, Dr. West, had his computer hacked about two weeks ago. Thankfully, it was well-encrypted, so the only notes that the hacker obtained was that an unnamed female had acquired a Superman-like power suit that had been designed for Lex Luthor. He did not obtain my name, location, or anything that would specifically identify me."

"What about Clark's identity?" Lois whispered quietly.

"None of my scientists know Clark's identity, so that definitely was not inside Dr. West's notes," Lana answered. "Dr. West called me a week ago with more incriminating evidence on this other scientist. Dr. West said that this other scientist seemed to have become obsessed with Dr. West's notes, finding the Superman-powered human, and worse, fixating on the idea that Superman likely also disguised himself among the normal humans, had a job like a normal human, and friends and family. Dr. West said that this scientist thought he was on the cusp of finding out Superman's secret identity."

"What?!" Lois shrieked, jumping to her feet. "So then you decide to come here and contact us? What if he followed you? You just led him straight to Clark! And why didn't this Dr. West give you this other scientist's name?!"

Clark stood up and took Lois' hand. He could feel her whole body shaking and realized that she was absolutely frightened for him.

Lana stood up, too. "Dr. West did give me the other scientist's name. It was Aaron Jacobs. And I've been flying all over the world to make sure that i wasn't being followed. I am positive that Aaron is not on my tail. I would never endanger Clark's life like that!" Lana sounded offended that she even had to defend herself. "There's more, though. The day after my phone call with Dr. West, he was found dead. It was ruled a suicide….but I think he was murdered."

"I'm assuming if you think he was murdered, you're suspecting this Aaron Jacobs scientist," Clark said. "Do you have any idea where he lives, what he looks like? We should call Chloe and meet up at Watchtower and have her find him. She should be able to find him within minutes."

"I've already talked with Chloe, and I was at Watchtower all day today," Lana said. "There is absolutely no trace of an Aaron Jacobs working at my lab. Like I said, I never saw his face, never heard his voice, never had any interaction of him with any kind, so I have no idea what he looks like. All I know is that he's going to a lot of trouble." Lana took a step closer to both of them. "Dr. West said that Aaron was very intelligent. I fear it won't be long before he links Clark to being Superman. If, and when, that happens….I fear that both of you will be in great danger."


	4. First Fight

"I - I - I have to step outside and get some air," Lois said shakily.

"Lois, please, stay here with us," Clark said. "We just learned that somebody may be trying to target us. I don't know that it's such a good idea for you to go out by yourself at night time."

"Really, Clark?" she snapped at him. "I've been by myself all day long. You weren't worried about me then, so don't start worrying about me now." Clark looked hurt by her biting words, and took a step back. He watched her walk out the door.

"Um, Lana, I'll be right back," Clark said after a moment. He headed out the door after Lois. He caught her as she hit the sidewalk. "Lois!" he called out after her. She turned around and looked at him. "Please. Talk to me."

"Talk to you?!" Lois exclaimed with irritation in her voice, and narrowing her eyes. "OK, fine. Let's talk!" Lois was raising her voice to him as her frustrations and anger over the day's events finally came to the surface. "Let's talk about the fact that your ex-girlfriend just re-entered our lives, and you invited her over to our apartment without so much as asking me, _your wife,_ if that was OK. Let's talk about the fact that you've been giving her every ounce of your attention since she's been in our apartment. Let's talk about the fact that anytime I've asked her a question you glare at me like I shot fire out of my eyes at her! Let's talk about the fact that I wanted, no, _needed_ my husband today, but got treated like just another citizen of Metropolis! I got more attention and affection from the new hire of the Daily Planet than I did from my own husband!"

"Don't blame me for how today went down!" Clark said, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "I tried talking to you after our first encounter with Lana, and you immediately had your defenses up. You wouldn't talk to me, you wouldn't let me touch you. If I've been glaring at you it's because all you've done is snap at Lana like she's the bad guy when she's just here to help!"

"Oh, thank you, Clark! Your _wife_ is standing here telling you why I'm upset about the ex-love-of-your-life coming back, and you're completely defending her!" Lois exclaimed.

Clark continued on. "Quit acting like you have to remind me who's my wife, and who's not, OK?! And do not throw everything I've done today in my face when earlier you told me that I did the right thing by helping that little girl! "

"That little girl did need your help, Clark!" Lois continued. "For like 5 minutes! Not the whole day."

"Maybe I'm having a hard time figuring out my role in all of this, too!" Clark yelled at her. "I can't be there for everyone all the time! I can't be with you every second, and do all the other _things_ -" he pulled on his tie to use their secret sign for Superman- "that I need to do!"

"Yeah, let's talk about all the other - _things_ \- you've done today!" She lowered her voice to a hissed whisper as she continued on. "When I called you on the phone from the ER, you told me that you had helped a wheelchair-bound man who had fallen out of his wheelchair in Texas, and returned a cat stuck in a tree to his 5-year-old owner who was standing at the base of the tree - in California. And then on your way back to Metropolis, you stopped and helped an old lady across the street."

"I was helping people!" Clark hissed back at her in hushed tones. "I like helping people! I thought that was one of the things you loved about me! But instead of just telling me that all the other things could wait, and you really _wanted_ me with you, you put up a wall because that's what Lois Lane does! When things get tough, you get going. We're not just in a relationship anymore, Lois, we are in a _marriage_ , and that means something to me, and I know it means something to you, too. You can't just run from a marriage because we hit a tough spot."

"Our marriage means more to me than you will ever know!" Lois exclaimed. "And I do love that you help people. Today it just didn't feel like all those other people needed -" she lowered her voice to a low whisper "- Superman's assistance. I mean, congratulations on making a 5-year-old little girl happy by getting her cat out of a tree; but meanwhile your _wife_ was in the ER. By herself." She took a deep breath, and Clark could hear her voice shaking. "It really would have been nice to just know that I mattered to you today." Clark's expression immediately changed at her last words. He went from being frustrated and irritated with her to genuinely hurt and concerned. He stood there silently for a brief moment.

"Lois?" he asked softly. "You- you really felt like you didn't matter to me today?"

Lois' eyes welled with tears as she turned and backed away from him. "Please, Clark" she said as she continued walking away. "I just need to be by myself."

Clark watched her walk away before he went back into his apartment looking and feeling completely deflated.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lana asked, looking at his demeanor.

"No. I've just been an idiot," Clark said. "I've completely missed all the obvious signs that she just needed her husband today, and I was too caught up in trying to be everyone's best friend -" he gestured Lana's direction. "-And everybody's best Superman. All that meant that I have not been her best husband."

"Well, if I can give you some advice," Lana started. "Go make it right. Lois Lane might be a tough cookie, but she has a big soft spot in her heart for Clark Kent. And Lois and Clark are a pretty _super_ couple."

"Lana, I have to ask, though. What exactly are your intentions for coming back?" Clark questioned. "I mean, Lois may have been really tough on you tonight, but part of what she questioned you for was for legitimate concerns - you coming back here could very well have led Aaron Jacobs to us. Why not just write this in an e-mail, or phone call?"

"It was way too risky," Lana said. "This man is brilliant, and he knows what he wants. He could be hacking all the e-mails and phone calls. I was serious when I said that I had traveled all over the globe before arriving to Metropolis. I wanted to make sure that nobody was following me, and that I threw him off if he was following me." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I want you to know that my coming here was purely as a friend. I have no intention of trying to get you back. You know that, right? I've known that you and Lois were meant together long before you two ever did. I just couldn't bring myself to admit it back then. I truly just came here to warn you to be on the lookout. There is someone gunning for you, and when and if he ever finds you, I fear he poses a danger to both you and Lois."

"Look, Lana, I believe you that you had no intentions of trying to disrupt my marriage. Even if you did, I would hope that Lois knows how much I love her to know that she's never been a placeholder for me," Clark said. "She and I have just had a really rough day today. I really need to find her and talk to her."

"Why don't I see myself out?" Lana asked. "I know when you find her, you two have a lot to talk about. Maybe I can swing by tomorrow and reassure her myself that my intentions here are only to help - not to hurt."

"Yeah, maybe so," Clark said distractedly.

Lana grabbed a pen and piece of paper and scribbled down a phone number. "Here's my number in case you need to reach me for any reason. Chloe and I plan on being at Watchtower most of the day tomorrow and see if we can find anything that would point us to where our Aaron Jacobs could be."

"Thanks, Lana," Clark said. "We really do appreciate you coming here to give us all this information."

"What are friends for, Clark?" Lana asked as she gave him a friendly hug goodbye. With that, she walked out the door.

Meanwhile, Lois was out walking briskly. She had to think. She had to move. " _What am I doing?"_ Lois thought to herself. " _Why am I giving Clark the cold shoulder when he hasn't done anything wrong? Sure, he hurt my feelings today, but how was he supposed to know that I wanted a doting husband today? That's not a very 'Lois Lane' thing to desire. Is he supposed to read my mind? And why am I distancing myself from this relationship, from our *marriage* at that, just because I perceive Lana as a threat? Sure, she has beauty. And Clark's same powers. And intelligence. But that doesn't mean that Clark finds that attractive….. Does it?"_ Lois was still dressed in her work clothes, and she realized that her heels needed a break from all the walking, so she sat down on a bench. "Come on, Lane. Pull yourself together."

"Do you know how blind I've been today?" a voice asked her from a few feet away. Lois looked up to see her husband walking towards her. He sat on the bench beside her and took her good hand in his.

"Blind? What are you -?" Lois started.

"Lana entered our lives again today. I just thought it was great. One of our old friends is back. I knew that I saw a change in you today, but I was so blind. Blind to the fact that you might see Lana as a threat; blind to the fact that you needed me so many times today; blind to how scared you were of all the information that Lana shared with us. But mostly I've been blind to the fact that I let -" Clark pulled on his tie as his secret 'Superman' sign that he and Lois understood - " _other_ things come before you, and you were hurt by my actions. You've needed your husband today to comfort you, and reassure you, and just be there for you, and I've been too blind to see it. Lois. I need you to really listen to me when I say this to you." Lois looked Clark in the eyes as he continued. "I haven't loved Lana for a very long time. And I have never loved Lana like I love you. You are the one person who I didn't have to hide any part of myself from. You are the person that I look forward to waking up with; look forward to spending time with; look forward to going to bed with - both in a literal and figurative way. You keep me grounded, you speak your mind, but you're my soft place to fall. You are my very best friend in the whole world, and I love you more than anything, _or anyone_ else on this planet. I am so sorry that I have made you feel like anything less than that today."

Lois smiled warmly at Clark, and a look of relief washed over her face. "Apology accepted." She leaned forward and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Lois," Clark said.

Lois sat silently for a minute before speaking again. "Look, Clark, I know I've been pulling away, putting up my defenses, and maybe even treating Lana pretty harshly," Lois said. "I'm not proud of my actions. I'm not proud of the fact that as soon as a hardship enters our relationship, my first instinct is to build a wall. I know I haven't made today easy on you, and I expected you to read my mind and make it better, and that wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry, Clark."

"Apology accepted," Clark said with a big smile. "Can I ask you something, though?"

"Of course," Lois replied.

"Why are you threatened by Lana? Why are you acting as though you've been a placeholder for me the entire time?" Clark asked.

Lois took a deep breath before answering. "Because I was there for all of the Lana and Clark love saga. You were madly and deeply in love with that woman, and the only reason you ended the relationship was because being around her would have killed you. That's no longer an issue anymore." She broke eye contact with him for a brief second before her eyes met his again, and she continued on. "She's completely your equal now. She can be by your side helping you out. I mean, what can I do for you? Cook you a crappy dinner when you return home? Report the story and give you good publicity?"

"Lois," Clark started. "I was falling in love with you before Lana became lethal to me. I thought that you knew that. You're right when you said that you were there for the Clark and Lana love _saga_. There was so much drama, secrets, lies, and deception with Lana. Yes, I _thought_ I was in love with her, but I was really in love with the thought of having someone to love. Once I told you everything, there were no more secrets. No more lies." He put his hand lovingly to her cheek. "And what can you do for me? Well, for one thing, you can put me in my place like nobody else can." Lois smiled and bit her lip while Clark gave her a wink and a flirtatious smile. "You can make me feel loved, and safe, and happy just when I think about being with you. You can make me remember _why_ I go out of my way helping people - because I want a world that is safe for you to be a part of. You can _satisfy_ me in ways that nobody, and I truly mean _nobody_ , ever has, or ever could. You are a one-of-a-kind, Lois Lane. You don't need any kind of special ability to be my equal." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. "You're my equal because you love me fully and entirely. You're my best friend. And _you_ are my wife. Not because you were the only one I could get, or because you were better than nothing. You're my wife because I couldn't imagine my life without you being in every single part of it. You're my wife because I wanted _you_ to be my wife; not because I just wanted a wife."

Lois smiled warmly at him. "I don't know what I've done to deserve you, Clark Kent; but I'm really glad that I have you." She leaned up and gave him a sweet kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Clark said. He felt Lois shiver in the night air.

"Let's go home," Clark said.

"I'd love that," Lois responded. Clark held her close as they walked home.


	5. Suspicious Behavior

**CHAPTER 5 - SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR**

The next day at the Planet, Lois and Clark were putting together their notes from the tornado devastation site.

"Lane! Kent! I need that story on my desk by 4pm!" Perry yelled.

"On it, Chief!" Lois called out. "We're just waiting for some first class photos."

"Easton's still not in yet?" Perry asked.

"Right here, Mr. White," Zac said running in. "Sorry. It's just been one of those days."

"Just go add your photos to Lane and Kent's story, and all will be forgiven."

"Sure thing," Zac said. He turned to Lois and Clark. "I'll be at my desk editing yesterday's photos if you need me."

"You haven't edited them yet?" Lois asked. "What were you doing all day yesterday?"

"I've been….just busy getting used to how things are done at the Planet," he stammered.

"Zac, just go get your photos edited," Clark said. "We have a few other stories to start on. Right, Lois?"

"Yeah," she muttered. Zac walked off to his desk and started editing his pictures.

"Have you talked to Chloe today?" Clark asked Lois.

"Not yet," Lois responded. "I haven't gotten a chance. "Have you heard anything from Lana?"

"Nothing," he said. "She's supposed to be at Watchtower with Chloe all day today. I thought we might pop over on our lunch break and see how the search was going."

"I don't like feeling like I'm a sitting duck," Lois said. "This guy could be anywhere, or anyone, and we have no idea because we have no idea who he is or what he looks like."

Clark took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Lois. I will never let anyone hurt you," he promised.

She looked at him with a weak smile. "I'm not worried about me," she said. "I'm worried about you."

"Don't be," he said. "Nothing will happen to me. This Aaron Jacobs guy might be smart. But Lois and Clark are smarter. We'll find him first."

"I hope so," Lois said.

The two went back to working at their own desks on other Daily Planet stories. Zac came over with a flash drive about an hour and a half later.

"Sorry, again, for taking so long with these," he said. "Here are all of my edited photos from yesterday. They're pretty good, if I do say so myself," he said with a teasing grin. "Hope these help get you that office upstairs." He held a lingering gaze with Lois, and looked at her in a way that made Clark notice. Clark frowned slightly at the sight.

Clark stood up and cleared his throat while stepping in front of Lois. "Thanks, man," he said taking the flash drive in one hand, and shaking Zac's hand with his other hand while using just a small hint of super strength.

"No problem," Zac said, eyeing Clark with a perplexed look as he rubbed his hand. "Man, you've got a strong handshake."

"Do I?" Clark asked, feigning a look of surprise. "Must be from all the years of farm work I did."

"Oh, right," Zac said. "Smallville." Zac walked away and went back to his desk.

"What was that about?" Lois asked when Zac was safely out of earshot.

"There was just something about the way he was looking at you that I didn't like, so I -" Clark started.

"Clark Kent!" Lois gasped teasingly. "Did you super shake his hand?"

"I did not super shake his hand," Clark said. "I just made sure he knows that I'm stronger than I look."

"Now who's the jealous one?" Lois teased.

"I'm not jealous," Clark promised. "I'm just….possessive."

"I'm not sure that that's much better than being jealous," Lois said innocently while popping in the flash drive. She scrolled through his photos. "Wow."

"One thing's for sure," Clark said. "He's talented."

"These are going to land us upstairs for sure," Lois said. They went through and dropped in the photos that best complemented their story, and had it sent to Perry before lunch time.

"You ready to go grab some lunch and take care of some business?" Clark asked, talking in code of their Watchtower business.

"I need to stop by the ladies' room first," Lois said. "Be right back." She headed to the restroom and was coming out of the ladies' room as Zac looked to be heading in to the men's room.

"Hey, Lois," he said casually. "How were the photos? Were they good enough to buy your forgiveness for dropping the ball yesterday?"

"I have to admit," Lois started. "I was pretty annoyed that you hadn't edited them yesterday like I thought you were going to, but when we looked at the pictures you sent us, they were great. I think you might have helped us get that promotion we've been going for."

"That's great," he said smiling at her. Lois noticed him looking her up and down. She smiled nervously.

"Well, I'll see you later. Clark and I are going to head out for lunch today." She tried moving past him, but he blocked her move.

"You and Clark," he said. He looked as if something in him snapped him back to reality. "Of course," he said moving out of her way. "I'm sorry. You just really remind me of someone."

"Really?" Lois asked. "There's another fiery-tempered, black-belt-awarded, kick-ass reporter out there somewhere? I need to meet her."

Zac smiled sheepishly as he headed into the men's room. Lois walked away from the restrooms, smiling to herself in pride. Hopefully he had just taken her hint that she was not a "damsel in distress" type of woman - she could, and would defend herself.

She headed back to the bullpen where Clark was sitting at his desk, typing. He saw her coming, and stood up and grabbed his coat. "Everything OK?" he asked as he helped her put her coat on. "I was about to come looking for you. You were gone for quite awhile."

"I'll tell you when we get away from here," she whispered.

"Are you OK? Did something happen?" Clark asked, his voice full of concern.

"No, nothing major," Lois said. "I'll tell you later." The two took the elevator up to the roof, so that they could talk in private, and then fly over to Watchtower. Once they were on the roof, and sure that nobody was around, Lois told Clark of her odd encounter with Zac. "Something just seems weird about him," Lois continued on.

"You think so?" Clark asked. "Apparently he just finds you very attractive. While I don't appreciate other men checking out my wife -" he put his hands on her hip bones and gave them a gentle squeeze as he pulled her in close to him "- I can't say that I can fault him for it. You are one beautiful-" he paused as he kissed the top of her head "-smart -" he paused again and kissed her forehead "-and incredibly sexy woman." He kissed her passionately on her lips.

"Mmmm," Lois let out a soft moan in response to his kiss. She pulled away slowly and hesitantly. "Flattery will get you everywhere," she said, a little breathless.

"I know what we're doing when we're off the clock tonight," Clark said with a smile. "OK, let's get back to our story at hand. What is it about Zac that seems off-putting to you?"

"OK, well, I didn't say anything yesterday because, well, I didn't see you a lot yesterday, but that's water under the bridge," Lois said quickly. "But there were several times I had to remind him that he was there to shoot pictures. And he was supposed to come back to the Planet and edit his pictures yesterday when I left for the ER, yet he's just getting to it today. And he came in late. What kind of new hire comes in late?"

Clark raised his eyebrows at Lois and gave her a quizzical look, and asked her with a teasing tone in his voice. "Really, Lois? You're suspicious of him because he was late? You, of all people, are judging him for being late?"

"You better watch it, Smallville," Lois teased back while playfully pushing him away from her. "Flattery may get you everywhere, but snarky responses will get you absolutely nowhere."

"OK," Clark chuckled. He absolutely loved the way they bantered back and forth. "I mean, what you're saying might be a little odd, but I don't really know what more to make of it than he might just be a bit socially awkward, and not good with time management."

"Yeah, maybe," Lois said. Clark could tell the wheels in her brain were turning.

"Let's go to Watchtower and see if we're any closer to finding out who this Aaron Jacobs guy is," Clark said.

"Good idea," Lois said. "Make sure nobody's watching or listening in before you - you know."

Clark looked around, and cued in on his super hearing to make sure nobody was in the vicinity. "We're alone up here," he said before tearing open his shirt to reveal his Superman "S" underneath, and spun into the whole costume. "Let's fly."

Superman flew Lois to Watchtower, and spun back into Clark once they were safely tucked inside.

"Hey guys," Chloe greeted them, still focused on her computer in front of her.

"We wanted to come by and see if you and Lana had made any leeway on finding this Aaron Jacobs guy," Lois said.

"Nothing concrete, but we've been working non-stop," Lana replied. "If only we could figure out a clue as to who this guy is, or what he looks like, so we could trace credit card usage, cell phone usage, anything!"

"You know, we've tried hacking into Aaron Jacobs' computer files, but have you tried breaking into your lab and looking for a hard copy file?" Lois suggested. "Maybe there was a piece of evidence that he forgot to destroy at the lab."

Lana snapped her head up and looked at Lois with wide eyes. "Actually, no. I never thought to do anything more than hack into the computer files. The lab is in California. I think I'll head over there."

"I'll go with you," Clark volunteered. "It could be dangerous and you could need some backup." His mind quickly went to his and Lois' conversation last night, and he pulled Lois aside to speak with her quietly. "Are you OK if I go with Lana? I truly just want to make sure she stays safe, and that I can keep you safe by keeping this guy away from us."

Lois smiled warmly at him. "I trust you completely, Clark. Go help Lana." She gave him a quick kiss before turning back into her fiery-tempered reporter. "But take good notes, so that you and I can land this story on the front page!"

Clark smiled at Lois. "Yes, Ms. Lane," he teased with her. He and Lana took off to California to snoop through the labratory.


	6. Friend or Foe

**CHAPTER 6 - FRIEND OR FOE**

"OK, Chloe, where do we go from here?" Lois asked. "You and I may not be able to fly to California in a single bound, but we can pool your brain with my contacts and get one hell of a dream team going in Metropolis."

"I'm not sure," Chloe said. "This guy is a ghost online," she said as she pulled up inconclusive records on Aaron Jacobs. "Lana gave me the name of the lab that he worked for, and there is absolutely no trace of him ever being there. Without an employment card on file, I can't get a picture, Social Security number, Driver's License number, nothing."

"Well, obviously, this Aaron Jacobs hacked the system and erased all of his information so that he would be a ghost," Lois concluded.

"Right," Chloe said. She jumped as though she just had a lightbulb moment go off in her head. "I never thought to look into Dr. West's files. Maybe he wrote something in his own private files that will tell us who or what we're looking at."

"Great idea, Chloe!" Lois responded, excitedly. She looked over Chloe's shoulder as Chloe hacked into Dr. West's files. They read silently for several minutes before Lois found the words that sent chills up her spine.

"Oh my God," Lois said as she read Dr. West's files. "Chlo - are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Dr. West was definitely concerned about somebody being overly obsessive about Superman," Chloe said, staring at the screen like she had just seen a ghost. "But it wasn't anyone named Aaron Jacobs."

"It was Lana," the two women said in unison.


	7. A Plot Twist

**CHAPTER 7 - A PLOT TWIST**

"How could we have not seen this?" Lois asked, pacing back and forth. "There were so many holes in her story to begin with! How did I miss this? First, she comes and finds us at the Planet, then she insists on having dinner at our house so that she knows where we live, then she put the blame off onto someone else who, conveniently, she doesn't know what he looks like, so we don't know who to go after."

"OK, Lois, let's not panic or jump to conclusions," Chloe said. "We don't know what to believe. We know Lana. She was a friend to me and Clark, and I think you would have considered her a friend, too."

"Chloe, you're reading the same thing that I'm seeing!" Lois shrieked. Her eyes widened in horror. "And now Lana's alone with Clark. He could be in so much danger."

"Now, if you remember, going to the lab was actually your idea," Chloe said. "It wasn't Lana's. And Clark offered to go with her. She didn't ask him to go."

"What are you getting at, Chlo?" Lois asked, realizing her cousin was refuting every theory Lois was coming up with.

"For argument's sake, let's just say that Lana has been telling the truth the whole time," Chloe said. "Think back to the time that we knew her."

"Yeah, she was full of lies, secrets, and deceit," Lois said. "I hated the fact that Clark showed any amount of interest in her. She was always pressing him to divulge his secret even though she was keeping plenty of secrets of her own."

"Lois, in all honesty, are you looking at this with your eyes wide open, or do you want Lana to be the bad guy in this?" Chloe asked sincerely. Lois' shoulders drooped as she realized her cousin was right.

"Alright," Lois said. "I have a feeling you have a theory, cuz, so lay it on me."

"If this Aaron Jacobs guy is real, and he erased all of his computer files, what if he is the one who planted this information on Lana to throw us off his track?" Chloe hypothesized.

"If that's the case," Lois said. "It _almost_ worked. I don't really know who or what to believe right now, but I'm at least open to the possibility that Lana may have actually come to help and not harm."

"Good," Chloe said with a satisfied smile. "I'm going to keep working on everything here. Lana and Clark will check in whenever they hear anything. You go back to the Planet, so there's no suspicion as to why yours and Clark's lunch took all day."

"Call me if you hear from Clark," Lois said. "Or if you find out anything."

"Same to you, cuz," Chloe said, turning her attention back to the keyboard.

Lois rushed back into the Planet, eager to get to her computer and busy herself in her work to get her mind off everything else going on.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" Zac asked as she sped past him.

"Hot on a story," Lois lied.

"And where's that husband of yours this time?" Zac asked. "He never seems to stick around for very long. It's amazing he even remembers that he's married to you."

"Clark is hot on the story as well," Lois answered mindlessly. She looked square at him. "That's the awesome thing about teamwork. We work together. It doesn't always mean side-by-side, but he's investigating the story out in the field, and I'm investigating the story from behind the desk."

"It seems to me that he always seems to leave you behind," Zac observed. "It must be hard to live in his shadow."

"Thanks for your concern, but our partnership is none of your business," Lois answered.

Zac held up his hands in an 'I Surrender' motion and backed away. "Just making an observation."

"Lane! I need you in my office!" Perry yelled from his office.

"You better be telling us that our tornado coverage was so good that we're moving upstairs immediately!" Lois huffed. .

"Not yet, but you are definitely much closer. I have another story for" you. Nail it, and I can promise you that you and Kent will be moving upstairs and reporting in the big leagues. Where is that husband of yours anyway?" Perry asked.

"Oh, um, dentist," Lois said, covering quickly. "He chipped a tooth at lunch. He should be back in an hour. What's the story?"

"A body just washed up from Lake Metropolis," Perry said "It's been nibbled on by some little fish, and it's been in there for a couple of days at least, so there's no clear identification on it. You and Kent go see what you can find out."

"Got it, Perry," Lois said.

"Oh, and, take Easton with you," Perry said. "His shots from the tornado devastation were great, so we definitely want some shots of this. Nothing morbid, though."

"Hmmmm, Easton," Lois said, contemplating.

"What's wrong?" Perry asked, sensing her hesitation.

"Nothing, he just…." Lois said, her voice trailing off. "I'm sure it's nothing, though. I can handle myself." With that, she left Perry's office, and walked back to her desk. "Zac! Get your camera! We have a murder scene to shoot."

Zac snatched up his camera and other equipment and was on her heels as they rushed out of the Planet.

"So, what murder investigation are we going on?" Zac asked as they got in the taxi.

"Apparently, a dead body washed up on shore at Lake Metropolis," Lois said. "It's currently unidentifiable, so we're going to try and get police interviews, and maybe we'll be there when the identification comes in…..or I guess I should say _if_ it comes. Oh, and Perry said no morbid shots while we're there."

"OK…." Zac said, his voice trailing off. Lois noticed the color draining from his face.

"Don't tell me this is the first time you're going to see a dead body," she said.

Zac shrugged with a pained look on his face.

"Just take a deep breath and try not to pass out," Lois said. "We ace this story again, and Clark and I are guaranteed a promotion."

Zac took a deep breath. "Thanks," he told Lois. He reached over and squeezed Lois' hand. "I'll try and get you that promotion."

Lois smiled uncomfortably and drew her hand away slowly. "Sure," she said. "Happy to - happy to help."

Zac and Lois spent the next couple of hours at the lake, taking pictures of the body, talking to police, detectives, forensics experts, and medical examiners. Lois snapped a picture of the car's license plate on her phone when she was sure nobody was looking. Though most of the numbers and letters had been scratched off, she knew she could run it through the police database from the Planet. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make this person, and his car, was unidentifiable.

"Well, I think we're done here, so I'm ready to head out," Lois said to Zac around 7pm that evening.

"OK," Zac said, seeming a bit distracted. He cleared his throat, and snapped back to reality. "Yeah, let's call a cab and get out of here."

Their cab arrived shortly. "I'm going back to the Planet to do a little more work and meet up with Clark," Lois told Zac. "Are you going to the Planet or your place?"

"Um - my place," Zac stammered. Lois noticed he had been acting weird all afternoon.

"Zac, is everything alright?" she asked him. "Is it the corpse? I realize they're a bit stomach-churning at first, but in this line of work, you gotta get used to it. Perry White told us that you were the most sought-after photojournalist, so it surprises me that you've never taken pictures at a murder scene before."

"Yeah, sorry," he said, smiling at her. "I'll be fine. I guess there was just a lot that happened today that I wasn't expecting. You know what? I only live a few blocks away from here. I think I'm just going to walk the rest of the way. The fresh air would be good for me."

"OK," Lois replied. "We'll see you in the morning." Zac got out of the cab and Lois rode the rest of the way to the Daily Planet. She got to her desk and immediately started trying to run the numbers of the license plate that she secretly took pictures of. Her phone rang and made her jump. It was only Lois, a janitor, and a runner running around frantically in the bullpen. Most of her co-workers had already gone home. "Lois Lane," she answered.

"Hey hon," Clark's voice rang out on the other end.

"Clark! Where are you?" she asked. "I tried getting a hold of you, but I had crappy reception on my phone out at the lake."

"I know," Clark said. "I've tried getting a hold of you several times, too, but your phone went straight to voicemail. With Aaron Jacobs on the loose, I got worried about you, so I flew back to Metropolis, and asked Perry where you were. Once I knew you were working on a story at the lake, and I knew you were safe, I flew back to California."

Lois couldn't help but smile at the sentiment. "Awww, thanks Smallville. Anyways, so where are you?"

"We're still in California," Clark replied. There's a LOT of paper files, and we're combing through each one in case Aaron Jacobs is a fake name, too. Even with 2 super-powered people, this is long and tedious work."

"Have you talked to Chloe?" Lois asked, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Did she fill you in on what Dr. West's files said?"

"Yes, and yes," Clark answered. "I know all about Lana. Or at least what Dr. West's files say," Clark said. "I'll never pretend like she was an angel, even when I dated her there were some secrets and red flags, but last night she was the one who encouraged me to go after you and make things right with you because we are just meant to be together."

Lois smiled at the sentiment. "Well, I'll definitely agree with her on that."

"If it makes you feel better," Clark said. "I've spent the last 6 hours with her, and there is nothing concerning or suspicious about her behavior."

"She's not trying to talk me down and win you back?" Lois asked.

"Hopefully you're teasing when you ask this question, but no, nothing of the sort. It's been a lot of reminiscing about the old days, talking about her current love life, and our current love life," Clark answered.

"Hopefully you're not sharing _too much_ about our love life," Lois said in a flirtatious manner. She heard Clark give a playful little laugh at the mention.

"Hey Lois, Lana just came back with some dinner for us, so can I let you go so that we can eat really quickly, and get back to our investigation?" Clark asked.

"Sure," Lois said. "I'm going to finish up at the Planet, and then call it a night in a couple of hours. I'll meet you back at our apartment later?"

"Of course," Clark said. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Lois told him. She hung up the phone, and continued to work on the pictures that she took on her phone at the crime scene. She uploaded them to her computer and enlarged them, cleared them up a bit, and ran the 3 digits and letters that she could make out through the DMV database. She then cross-referenced the license plate matches to a missing persons database. Three names came up of missing people who had license plates that could match the car that was pulled from the lake today. One of them made her freeze.

 _Easton, Zac._

"Zac Easton?" she whispered to herself. "Why is he listed as a missing person?" She clicked on the Driver's License photo accompanying the name and gasped. The man in the picture looked to be around 45, red hair, and very skinny. "Zac Easton isn't really -"

"I wondered how long it would take you to put two and two together," a voice behind her said.

Lois gulped and turned around slowly. Standing behind her was the man whom she had thought was Zac Easton. "You - you're not really Zac Easton, are you?" she asked in a faint whisper.

"You're supposed to be a brilliant reporter," the man answered. "What do you think?"

"Aaron Jacobs?" she asked.

"Ding, ding," he said creepily. "You win."

And that was all Lois remembered before her world went dark.


	8. The Discovery

**CHAPTER 8 - THE DISCOVERY**

Back in California, Lana and Clark were tirelessly scouring through mountains of paperwork and employee files, all past and present.

"Clark! I found it!" Lana exclaimed pulling out a thick file. Clark supersped to her side. "Here he is. Aaron Jacobs."

" _That_ is Aaron Jacobs?" Clark asked with panic in his voice.

"Yeah, why? You know him?" Lana asked.

"He's the newest photojournalist at the Daily Planet," Clark said.

"Where's Lois?" Lana asked. "She could be in danger right now."

"Working late at the Planet," Clark informed. He pulled out his cell phone and immediately dialed Lois' desk number. "Nobody's answering." He re-tried her cell phone number, and shook his head in defeat. "She's not answering. We have to go."

"Let's go," Lana said, picking up Aaron Jacob's file and speeding back to Metropolis with Clark. They got to the Daily Planet and Clark ran to Lois' desk. He started rifling through her drawers.

"Lana," he started. "Her purse, keys, and cell phone are still here. She would never leave those behind."

Lana sat down at Lois' desk and moved the mouse around to bypass the screen saver. "Clark, look at this. She figured it out. She found Aaron Jacobs."

"Worse," Clark said. "He found her." He ran his hand through his hair and started pacing. "Lana! We have to find her. He's going to kill her if we don't get to her."

"Clark, I know that you're worried about Lois, but you need to keep calm!" Lana hissed at him. "Think about it. He doesn't want Lois, he wants you. She's relatively safe for now, but we have to use our heads!"

"You're right," Clark said taking a deep breath. "OK, we need to go through his file and see if we can find a location."

"One step ahead of you," Lana said. Clark gave her a quizzical look as she wrote down 10 different addresses. Lana gave him a friendly smile. "I've gotten really good at speed reading. Anyways, based on credit card activity, cell phone towers, and previously known addresses, I have it narrowed down to these 10 areas. There are abandoned warehouses and/or dilapidated buildings in each of these ten areas. He's got to be holding her in one of these."

"Great work, Lana," Clark said. He looked at the list. "I think we should split up. Ten addresses is a lot to go through one-by-one. That way we can find her faster."

Lana's eyes widened at the suggestion. "Clark, he's a brilliant man, and he's holding Lois in order to lure you to him. Kryptonite can't hurt me, but it can _kill_ you. I don't think that splitting up is a good idea."

"Just stay in close contact," Clark said. "If your five addresses turn out to be nothing, come and check the other five. We have to find her, though."

Lana nodded hesitantly. "We'll find her. Just do me a favor and be careful. This guy has it out for you, not Lois; remember that."

With that, Clark flew out of the Daily Planet.


	9. Saving Lois

**CHAPTER 9 - SAVING LOIS**

Lois felt herself waking up. She couldn't remember when or where she fell asleep, but she knew one thing: she had a splitting headache. She went to raise her hand to her head, but something was restricting her arm from moving freely. She opened her eyes slowly. Panic immediately sent her heart racing when she looked at the scene before her. She was lying in a bed inside of a free-standing jail cell. The jail cell which contained her seemed to be inside of a very large warehouse. The bars of the jail cell were all glowing an eerie green color. Her hands were handcuffed to the headboard of the bed on which she lay. And the handcuffs were glowing an eerie green color. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself as she sat up a little straighter and fear rose inside of her. "It's Kryptonite."

"Oh, good, you're finally awake," Aaron Jacobs said, unlocking the cell and walking over to her. He sat at the foot of the bed, facing towards her.

Lois tried making sure her voice sounded unwavering before speaking. "Why am I here? What do you want with me?"

"To lure your husband, of course," Aaron replied.

"Clark?" she asked innocently. "What on earth would you want with Clark?"

"Oh, don't play dumb, Lois," Aaron said. "He's an evil, threatening, alien menace to our world, and he will die!"

"Clark?!" Lois asked in a shrill voice. "Listen, Aaron, I don't know what kind of _special brownies_ you've been eating, but Clark is a mild-mannered reporter who wouldn't hurt a fly. You, on the other hand, knocked me unconscious with who-knows-what, dragged me out of the Daily Planet, and handcuffed me to a bed inside a free-standing jail cell, so who's the evil threatening menace now?"

Aaron slapped her cheek at that comment. "I WILL NOT BE TALKED TO LIKE THAT!" he yelled. "I am a brilliant scientist! Once I figured out that it was Lana Lang who was coming in regularly to get treatment for her Kryptonite poisoning, it was so easy to hack into Dr. West's files, trace Lana's roots back to Smallville where all weird meteor freaks originate from, and eventually put two and two together - that Clark Kent is really Superman. I really knew that I struck gold when she found you two a couple of days ago walking out of the Daily Planet. Then I knew she was here to warn you about me, and I really had solved the mystery of Superman's identity." Zac shook his head and put his hand on top of Lois' knee. "Man, it must have been hard seeing your husband's ex-love-of-his-life come back into the picture. No wonder you two have barely seen or spoken to each other over the past 48 hours. I mean, Lana's hot, she has the same powers as him, she's cured of her Kryptonite poisoning, no wonder you're feeling like the third wheel." He leaned in closer to her. "It's because you are." Lois shuddered at his touch and the close proximity.

Lois spoke shakily. "Do NOT make assumptions regarding Clark's and my relationship. And do NOT ever touch me again."

"Oh, Lois," Aaron said. He got up and slowly paced. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Be like what?" Lois asked. "You can still make this right. Just let me go, and we'll pretend this whole thing ever happened. Just stay far away from Clark, and I'll never tell anyone about you."

"Ha!" Aaron laughed. "No, Superman, or Clark, or whatever you call him _will_ die. There's no question about it." Lois gulped in fear as Aaron continued to pace. "No, _this_ -" Aaron motioned to Lois and then himself. "- _this_ wasn't ever supposed to happen. We weren't supposed to fall in love."

"What?"!" Lois shrieked. "Aaron, I don't love you."

"Of course you do," he said. "I've seen the way you look at me. I know how all women look at me. I took care of you when you injured your hand and your _husband_ was too busy helping other people to save his own wife. I tended to you! And then earlier today at the lake. You were concerned for my well-being. When I held your hand, we both felt that spark. That's why you drew away so quickly. You felt guilty because you're married." He stopped pacing and walked over to Lois and cupped her cheek. Don't worry, my love, when Superman is out of the picture, no one will keep us apart."

Meanwhile, Clark landed at the first address on his list. It was a dilapidated motel that stood in the middle of nowhere. Clark cued in his super hearing and thoroughly scanned the area. He sped in and out of every room in the motel. When he was satisfied that Lois wasn't here, he flew off to the next address on his list.

Back in her cell, Lois wasn't sure how to assess her situation. She wasn't even sure how long ago she had been abducted since she had been knocked out. She was sure by now Clark would have discovered that she was missing from the Daily Planet, but would he have figured out that Zac Easton was really Aaron Jacobs? Did she even want him coming to find her? With the amount of Kryptonite surrounding her, it would severely weaken him and kill him in just a matter of minutes. On the flip side, she knew that Aaron was very attracted to her, and didn't want to stick around long enough to find out what his intentions for her were. With her right hand still injured from the brick falling on it the day before, she wasn't sure she could take him all on her own, but she was willing to try if need be. All she knew is that she had to keep Aaron away from Clark. When Aaron wasn't in her cell, he would disappear for quite awhile. She wasn't sure where he was going or what he was doing, but she had to stall for time. The only plan of attack she thought had the slightest chance of working was making him start thinking she was interested in him, get her to take the handcuffs off, take him down, and make a run for it. When safely away from the Kryptonite, she would call for help.

"Hey Aaron," she called out when he came back in the warehouse. "I was hoping that you would uncuff me?" She was using her sweetest voice to lure him into a false sense of security. "My hand is still pretty bruised up from the brick landing on it yesterday, and it's really starting to hurt."

"Not going to happen," Aaron said. "You've already told me that you have a black belt in karate. I may not be a karate kung fu master, but I'm definitely not stupid."

"No, you're not. Lana told us that Dr. West said that you were brilliant," Lois said, playing a different angle. "Since I'm not going anywhere for awhile, maybe you could enlighten me on all the brilliant things you've done."

"Glad to know that good-for-nothin' doctor appreciated me for my brilliance," Aaron scoffed. "My brilliant plan started a couple of weeks ago when I saw the Daily Planet was looking for a new photojournalist. I knew I had to take that job to get close to you and Clark. I had no credentials for the job, so I found someone who did." His eyes narrowed and Lois shuddered on the inside at the sound of his voice. "Zac Easton. Poor Zac. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"He was found a week later at the after his body washed up from Lake Metropolis!" Lois gasped in horror. "What did you do?!"

"I needed to take his place," Aaron said. "Obviously, we can't have 2 Zac Easton's, so I just - got rid of him." Aaron sat down on the bed beside Lois and put his arm around her. "Don't worry, my darling. I would never lay a hand on you."

"Really? And that slap to my cheek earlier was just a little love pat?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Before she could think about what she had said, Aaron's elbow swiftly met her upper cheek bone.

"Ow!" she yelled out with tears stinging her eyes.

"I will never lay a hand on you if you DON'T MAKE ME!" he yelled.

Lois wiggled her jaw, and once she was sure she would just have a black eye and nothing more serious, she continued trying to get on his good side. "I'm sorry," she told him, lying through her teeth. "Continue. What other brilliant plans put you where you are?"

"Well, once we had our very first assignment, I had no idea how to take good pictures, so I just had to guess in the beginning. And then later, I stepped away to search the Internet for how to take professional pictures. Then when I went back to the Planet, and you were at the ER, and your good-for-nothing husband was out doing _Superman_ activities, I had to search how to edit pictures to a professional level." He let out a vain laugh. "The Internet makes everything so easy. That's why it took me until the next day until I finished my pictures and submitted them to you. When you told me how good the pictures were later, I knew that my cover was still in tact. My confidence was a little shaky earlier today when I found out that Zac Easton's body had washed up. I knew that my cover was going to be uncovered, and I just knew that it would be uncovered by you, gorgeous. You've got brains and beauty."

Lois managed a little half smile. "Wow, Aaron, you - you really went to a lot of trouble."

"And I'm just getting started," he said. "Once that disgusting alien comes in, he'll die a slow and painful death. And then you and I can be together forever." He planted a kiss on Lois' forehead. Her stomach churned at his touch. A tear slid down her cheek as his words plagued her mind. ' _Once that disgusting alien comes in, he'll die a slow and painful death.'_

Lana had crossed three of the five locations off her list. ' _Only two more to go. I have to find Lois before Clark does,'_ she thought to herself.

Clark was searching through the fourth building on his list. He was getting antsy and frustrated at the fact that he wasn't finding her. After a thorough search that once again turned up empty, he sped towards his last address: an old music warehouse way out in Star City.

"Hey good-looking," Aaron said, opening Lois' cell and bringing in a big plate of food and water. "It occured to me that you've been here for several hours and you're probably getting hungry and could use a bathroom break. I'll uncuff you from the bed, but I still don't trust you enough to uncuff your hands. You need to earn my trust before that happens."

Lois smiled gratefully as he unlocked the handcuffs from the bed and she was able to stretch and stand up. "Where's the ladies' room?"

"Follow me," he said. He walked her down a small corridor to a bathroom. "I'll be waiting here." He narrowed his eyes and pulled out a gun. "Don't try anything funny. You might have a black belt in karate, but I'm an excellent shot."

Lois' eyes widened and she swallowed hard. She nodded fearfully to show she understood what he had told her. She slipped in the restroom and locked the door behind her.

"OK, Lois, think," she whispered to herself. She had to come up with a plan of attack. Her hands were still handcuffed together, so some of her mobility and defensibility was hindered by that. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head. She did her business in the bathroom and washed her hands to make Aaron think she was doing what he took her in there for, and then jiggled the doorknob, and pretended that it was stuck. "Aaron?" she called out. "I think there's something stuck in the lock. I can't open the door."

"Dang old building," Aaron muttered under his breath. She heard him jiggle the knob from the outside. She heard his voice come from midway down the door and she knew he had stooped down to try and see if he could see anything inside the pinhole lock on his side of the door. Once she knew his face was level with the door knob, she had to make her move. She quietly unlocked the door and opened it with all her might, successfully jabbing Aaron in the eye with the door knob. "Ohh!" he yelled out in pain grabbing his eye.

Lois didn't stop. She didn't think. She just took off running towards the doors as fast as she could.

She was still 30 feet away from the doors of the warehouse when she saw the doors being thrown off their hinges. She was both horrified and relieved to see Superman fly inside.

"Clark! GET OUT!" she screamed as she raced towards him.

"Lois!" Superman said as he super sped to her, ignoring her warning. He scooped her up quickly and just as quickly fell to his knees, Lois coming down with him.

"Lois?" he groaned as he crumpled to the floor. He looked at Lois' hands. They were handcuffed - in green, glowing handcuffs.

"Clark, you have to get out of here," she said with tears streaming down her face. "Get away from me. I have on Kryptonite handcuffs."

"Lois -" Superman groaned. "I - I could never - do that." He studied her face. "He - he - hit you?" Superman asked.

"I'm OK," Lois whispered as the tears kept falling. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"What a sweet picture of irony," Aaron said smugly as he sauntered onto the scene. "The very woman you came to rescue is the very woman that you can't go near." He gave Superman a hard kick in the ribs. "This is for being the evil alien menace that you are!"

"Ohhh!" Superman moaned in pain.

"Stop it!" Lois screamed.

"And this one -" Aaron kicked Superman again. " - is for the shiner your stupid whore of a wife gave me!" Aaron yelled. He left Superman in a heap on the floor and grabbed Lois away from him. He pulled her, by her legs as she wiggled and fought, across the floor back towards the jail cell she was originally locked in. "Come on, sweetie, it's back to bed for you."

"No!" she yelled as she kicked and wriggled as much as she could.

"I think it's about time we consummate our relationship," Aaron said. "Superman's time is just about up anyways."

"Like hell it is!" Superman groaned as he used what little strength he had to jump on top of Aaron and tackle him to the ground. He punched Aaron in the face while Lois moved far away from him. "This is for hurting my wife!" He punched Aaron again. "This - " he could feel himself weakening from the physical strength he was exerting. " - this is for - thinking you're going to - to - have sex - with my wife."

Aaron noticed Superman's fading strength and was able to roll over so that Aaron was on top of Superman. "Good try _alien._ There's so much Kryptonite in here it's amazing you were able to muster that amount of strength to take me down. Maybe you actually love this human _WHORE_! Too bad she's mine." He delivered a solid punch to Superman, and Superman went unconscious.

"CLARK!" Lois screamed with tears running down her cheeks. Aaron turned around with a smug look on his face, and strolled back to Lois. She was crouched on the floor, crying. Once Aaron approached her, she leapt up and used her handcuffed hands to punch him in the face. "Ugh!" she yelled, letting out a groan, using all her strength to deliver a swift blow. He was knocked down.

Behind her, Lois heard a female voice. "Do you even need super-human help, or have you got it?" Lana asked.

Lois looked up, breathless, and panicked. "Lana, thank God you're here. We have to get Clark out of here,"

"She was actually talking to me," Aaron chimed in. "She's not here to help you….or your precious husband. We've been in this together from the get-go." He smiled smugly at Lois.

Lois stared at Lana in a horrified manner. "You - you completely betrayed us?"

Lana's eyes widened at the accusation. "What are you talking about? I've been here to help the whole time. I'm the one who even told you about Aaron in the first place."

"I read Dr. West's files. Chloe and Clark convinced me that it couldn't be true. There was somebody who Dr. West was concerned about having an obsession with Superman. It was Lana Lang," Lois informed her.

Lana's eyes narrowed. "Lois, I thought you trusted me. I would never hurt Clark. He and I may not have worked out in a romantic sense, but I still consider him my friend, and I would absolutely never do anything to hurt him. Or you. Don't believe Aaron. He had to have planted that evidence to make you lose trust in me."

"What would he gain by doing that?" Lois asked pointedly. She heard a gun click behind her head and felt the barrel at her temple.

"Because now I have you right where I want you," he hissed in her ear. "My plan is working out far better than I ever imagined. Superman is dead. His wife is _mine_. The only person who can stop me is surrounded by Kryptonite, and I already know from your previous Kryptonite experience, if you touch it, you become poisoned by it. Only this time, Dr. West isn't around to cure you."

Lana and Lois' eyes met each others. He didn't know! Aaron had misunderstood Dr. West's files! When he read that Lana had absorbed Kryptonite and needed to be cured of it, Aaron understood it to mean it was like a lethal poison to her body. He had no idea that it wouldn't affect her.

"Dr. West told me that you were brilliant," Lana said, walking a slow circle around Aaron, and whispered in his ear. "But even the brilliant people make mistakes." She walked over to Lois, and yanked the handcuffs off of her. At her touch, the handcuffs also changed from green to metal. Lana smirked at Aaron as she held the metal handcuffs up. "You see, Kryptonite doesn't poison me. It's neutralized by me."

"No….." Aaron said. Lois waited until she felt Aaron lower the gun, and delivered a solid elbow punch to his rib cage and he fell to the ground.

Lois kicked him in the ribs. "This is for holding me hostage!" she yelled. She kicked him again. "This is for hurting my husband!" She kicked him again. "And this is just because you've pissed me off!"

"Lois!" Lana yelled. "We need to get rid of the Kryptonite!" She touched her hands to the Kryptonite jail cell bars and it immediately changed from green to a regular metal. "I have to get out of here for Clark to recover. I have to go to the sun. Are you OK if I leave you?" She looked at Aaron who was still in a heap in the floor.

"Yeah," Lois said. "I'll take him down if I need to."

"OK," Lana said. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She flew away from the warehouse and Lois ran to Superman's side. He was starting to stir.

"Lois?" he groaned.

"Shhh, I'm right here," Lois said, taking his hand and leaning down to kiss him. "Are you OK?"

"I'm weak," he answered. "But I'll be OK." He took his hand to her bruised cheek and eye. She flinched, even at his gentle touch. "Are - are you OK? Did he hurt you in any other way?"

"No, no," she reassured him. "This is it. And it's only because of my big mouth. Well, that, and the guy's got a few screws loose."

Superman managed a laugh before Lois saw his eyes widen in horror. She turned around and saw Aaron standing up with the gun in his hand. Before she had time to think, she was covered by Superman's cape as Superman quickly covered her body with his own. She heard the gun shot. Superman got off of her quickly and stood up, still staggering with weakness.

"Clark?!" she exclaimed. "Are you -?" And then she saw it. Aaron was slumped on the floor in a pool of blood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his temple. "Oh my God," she sighed.

"It's over," Superman said wrapping her in a hug. "It's all over."


	10. A Fresh Start

**CHAPTER 10 - A FRESH START**

The following Monday, Lois and Clark were moving boxes of desk supplies and personal supplies to their new office upstairs. Between the original tornado devastation piece that they had covered, along with their 3-part story on the murder of the real Zac Easton and Aaron Jacobs, Perry White had been ecstatic to tell them of the soaring rating the Planet experienced, and the fact that they were both benefiting from it with big promotions, a shared private office upstairs, and of course, each would be receiving a handsome pay raise.

The couple walked in the door to their apartment that evening after a long day of moving, unpacking, and working.

"I am exhausted," Lois said flopping down on the couch with Clark right beside her.

"Me too," he said interlacing his fingers with hers. "It's been a long week. I feel like I've barely seen you."

"Smallville," Lois said . "We work together everyday."

"You know what I mean," he said. "I've only been seeing you as Lois Lane, my co-worker. I miss seeing you as Lois Lane-Kent, my wife."

"Do you?" Lois asked him coyly. "What exactly is the difference between Lois Lane, your co-worker, and Lois Lane-Kent, your wife?"

"I think I'd rather show you than tell you," Clark said, leaning in for a kiss.

"Mmm-kay," Lois agreed as Clark's mouth closed in over hers. She felt Clark's hands unbuttoning her blazer, revealing a silky turquoise spaghetti-strap blouse underneath. Lois laid down on the couch, and pulled Clark down with her. Their make-out session was interrupted with a knock on the door. "Ignore it," Lois said, breathlessly.

Clark used his X-ray vision to look and see who was there. "It's Lana," he said, hesitantly. They hadn't seen her since she neutralized the Kryptonite at the warehouse where Aaron held Lois captive.

Lois sighed. "Let her in," she agreed. Clark straightened his own shirt and tie as Lois adjusted her blouse and put her blazer back on.

Clark opened the door and greeted Lana with a warm smile. "Hi, Lana."

"Clark," she said with a big smile, stepping inside their apartment. She leaned up and gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry to stop in unannounced. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Lois and Clark gave each other a playful, flirtatious glance when Lana wasn't looking. "I just got back from my trip to the sun yesterday. I saw from the paper that you two got a great story out of it, and got out safely, but I just wanted to come by and see for myself."

"Lana," Lois greeted her with a warm smile. "I'm so happy you came over."

"I can't stay long," Lana said. "I really just wanted to make sure you two are OK."

"It's nothing a little therapy for some PTSD won't cure in a few years," Lois dryly joked. She looked at Lana and changed to a more serious tone. "But we're alive. Thanks to you." She turned and looked at Clark. "Hey Clark, would you mind putting on a pot of coffee for us really quick?"

"Yeah, sure," Clark said, taking the hint. He left the room.

"Lana, look," Lois said, getting right to the point. "I'm not good at this."

"Lois, you don't have to -" Lana started.

"Yes, I do," Lois told her. "I'm so sorry, Lana. I haven't trusted you from the minute you entered our lives last week. I was ready to peg you as the bad guy. I _wanted_ you to be the bad guy. You've only come into our lives to help, and if it wasn't for you, Clark would for sure be dead, and I have no idea what would have happened to me. I am so sorry that I didn't trust you, Lana. Thank you for everything that you have done for us."

"Thank you, Lois," Lana told her. "Your words mean more to me than you will ever know. I will always love Clark...but I am no longer _in love_ with Clark. I truly just want the best for him, and you are absolutely what is best for him." Lois smiled and looked Clark's direction as he entered into the living room again. He smiled back at her.

Lana cleared her throat. "Well, I better be heading out," she said as she gathered her things.

"Where are you off to?" Clark asked.

"California," Lana answered. "Before I came to Metropolis last week, one of the other scientists from my lab and I had really hit it off. He knows all about my power suit, Kryptonite absorption, everything. I've been pushing him away because I felt like I can't do rescues and lead a normal life without feeling overwhelmed and like I'm letting somebody down, but after spending a few days with you two, it feels like I'm letting myself down if I don't even give it a try."

"Good luck," Clark said coming up behind Lois and putting his hand on the small of her back. "I don't regret the double life at all. I think without Lois here to keep me grounded, I'd let myself get overwhelmed just trying to be Superman. It's a really great feeling to come home to somebody you love."

"Lana, I hope it works out for you and this guy," Lois said to her. "You deserve all the best. And just so you know, our door is always open to you. You're welcome here anytime you would like."

"Thank you," Lana said. "I'll take you up on that offer one day." She took off from their apartment as Clark closed the door behind her.

"So, Mrs. Kent," Clark said, turning Lois around so that she faced him. "You're OK with Lana now?"

"Yes," Lois told him. "I finally know that she is our friend, not our 'frenemy', and we can trust her completely."

"And you know that you're the one I actually * _wanted*_ to marry; you're not the one I married just to fill a void?" Clark asked.

Lois smiled warmly at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know."

"Are you sure you know?" Clark asked with a flirtatious smile. "Because if there is any doubt in your mind, I would love to show you just how much I love you…." his voice trailed off as he planted little kisses around her earlobe. "...just how happy I am that you are my wife."

"Well…." Lois said, biting her lip at the feel of his kisses. "...I guess it has been a long time since you showed me how much you love me."

"Mmmm," Clark groaned with pleasure. "Too long." With that, he picked Lois up in his arms, bridal-style, and super-sped her to their bedroom.

 **THE END!**


End file.
